N64 controller mod means playing games akimbo

Star Wars Episode 1 Racer for the Nintendo 64 has a rather interesting feature: by entering the code RRDUAL on the cheats menu, it’s possible to plug two controllers into the console and control each engine independently. This gives the game an awesome arcade feel, but dual-wielding N64 controllers is a bit of a burden. [Clarky] thought it would be a good idea to combine two controllers into one, and the Star Wars Racer controller is the result.

Like most console mods, the build began by tearing apart two N64 controllers and gluing them together. With a ton of bondo, sanding, and fiberglass, [Clarky] had a mutated N64 controller perfect for the Episode 1 game.

[Clarky] will be updating the build with a built-in rumble pak, but for now he’s doing his best to learn how to fly a pod racer with both hands. You can check out the demo of his build after the break where he plays the Star Wars game as well as a round of Goldeneye using his akimbo controller.

cool beans, a nice project for how the console was designed to be played however I came a crossed some intermediary mod that used a single PS2 controller and a micro-controller to split the inputs into to two outputs. it played a lot nicer on goldeneye since it gave the player access to the action buttons without the awkward reach around (entirely intentional innuendo) I would have liked to have seen some more games take advantage of that controller set up though because someone might have actually marketed a dual analog setup if Nintendo had adopted it officially for Devs. what ever works though very interesting stuff and I’m glad he got it to work. both pod racer and golden eye are the only two carts I have left for my N64 and I would enjoy testing that thing out. I envy the person who he made that for =P

Nice hack, but I bet some of the people above praising this are the same ones who bitched about the size of the original XBOX “duke” controller.
Personally I always liked the big “duke” anyway, so I don’t feel like an hypocrite when I praise this hack :p

Pretty slick. I’m tempted to make a Dual Shock to N64 adapter with a mode that works this way now… but I’ve got so many projects ahead of it that it’d be way down the line.
By the way, “akimbo” does not mean what you think it does, apparently. It means “bent out to the side” but you probably got confused with “guns akimbo” (which refers to grabbing them from the holsters). I don’t think anyone would want to use this controller with arms akimbo.